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Joe Biden Weighing Presidential Run?; Airshow Plane Crash Investigation; Colts Sweep for Bugs in New England; Caitlyn Jenner Could Face Criminal Charges Over Vehicle Accident. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 23, 2015 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[06:31:12] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour now. And the breaking news is happening as North and South Korean leaders are meeting again to prevent a major confrontation.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: But here's the thing. The North has already doubled its artillery forces on the front lines and an estimated 70 percent of their submarine units have left their bases. In the meantime South Korea has recalled six fighter jets ahead of schedule from military drills in Alaska.

So we're going to keep you updated on that situation throughout the morning. We have a live report near the border at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: The man accused of trying to attack a European train packed with travelers is being interrogated by anti-terror police right now. French media is identifying him as Ayoub el Khazzani. Investigators are trying to determine where he traveled in the several months before this alleged attack. And officials say the suspect met with French ISIS fighters while in Turkey. But they want to know if he made it to Syria.

PAUL: Now to a story you saw first on CNN, a meeting of the minds fuelling new speculation about a 2016 run by Vice President Joe Biden. Sources say that the vice president got together privately with Senator Elizabeth Warren yesterday. The meeting might be the biggest indication yet that he's hearing from influential Dems before announcing his intentions.

CNN's Athena Jones has the very latest this morning -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. This is in many ways the big story of the weekend in politics, certainly on the Democratic side. This was broken by my colleague Jeff Zeleny. We know that Vice President Biden came back to Washington from his home in Delaware for a meeting with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

This was a meeting at the vice president's request and it's interesting because Senator Warren has become something of a liberal icon. She has a lot of fans. Fans who were pushing her to make a run for the presidency in 2016. Now she's sitting this race out, but she hasn't endorsed any of the Democratic candidates.

We don't know, of course, what specifics Biden and Warren spoke about. But we do know that Biden has told his associates that he plans to make a decision on whether to mount a third run for the White House within about the next month. We know his advisers have told him he has to decide by October 1st. And part of this decision has to involve him looking very, very closely at this race. He's seeing the appeal of another liberal senator, Bernie Sanders, who's drawn huge crowds, inspiring a lot of enthusiasm.

And he's also seeing the numbers, numbers like Clinton's very high unfavorability rating. Take a look at our most recent CNN-ORC poll. You see it there that 53 percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Hillary Clinton compared to just 44 percent for Joe Biden.

And I should mention in that same poll more than 50 percent of Democrats say that Biden should get in the race. But of course mounting another campaign for the White House is a big deal. It requires organization. It requires fundraising. And of course we know the vice president feels that he would be a good president. But he doesn't just want to run to make Hillary Clinton a better candidate. He wants to run to win. So we'll be closely watching to see what he decide in about the next month.

Back to you, guys.

BLACKWELL: Athena, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about the vice president's political future with political analyst Jason Johnson.

Jason, good to have you.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So when is a meeting more than a meeting? That's the question here. What do you make of this?

JOHNSON: I don't make that much of it at this particular point. I mean, they could have been talking about recipes. They could have been talking about, you know, Trump's rally --

BLACKWELL: Come on, recipes?

JOHNSON: I -- I'm telling you, I'm telling you, the fact of the matter is if Joe Biden was actually very serious about running, he needed to do this several months ago. Many of the campaign people that he would need, the pollsters, the advisers, the on-the-ground people, they've already joined the Clinton campaign.

[06:35:04] And what I'm hearing here in Washington, D.C. is October 1st might be too late for him to put together the kind of ground game he needs to be competitive in Iowa.

BLACKWELL: OK. So if he's not launching a real campaign here, then what is it? I mean, you don't go out -- and his people have not denied this meeting.

JOHNSON: Right.

BLACKWELL: So it suggests that they want people to know that this happened especially with Elizabeth Warren. What is happening here?

JOHNSON: Well, you remember earlier this year where Mitt Romney was meeting with a lot of different people. You know, it's hard to stop running for president when you've been this close so many different times and maybe Joe Biden, when he looks at what a weak candidate Hillary Clinton is on some levels, he -- of course he's thinking to himself maybe I should, maybe I should, maybe I should.

I just think that even meeting with Elizabeth Warren, until we start hearing that he's getting a PAC together, until we start hearing that maybe somebody has been hired to be a part of his team, I don't think he's got much of a chance. So I think these sorts of meetings are him just dipping his toes in the water but eventually he's going to say it's too cold.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's look at some numbers here. Biden versus Trump in the swing states. According to a Quinnipiac poll, let's put on the screen. He hasn't even entered the race. Ahead of the GOP frontrunner here in Florida, Ohio and in Pennsylvania.

CNN's Poppy Harlow asked former Trump adviser now, Roger Stone, although some people question that former.

JOHNSON: Right.

BLACKWELL: What Stone thinks about this meeting and Biden's potential bid. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, FORMER POLITICAL ADVISER TO DONALD TRUMP: Well, my Democratic friends reflected in an increasing lack of ease with Hillary Clinton's candidacy. Her unfavorables are climbing. She's mired in this e-mail scandal. She's on defense. She's explaining and when you're explaining in politics, you're losing.

On the other hand, Vice President Biden I think appeals to the same kind of establishment Democrats that Hillary Clinton does. And the weakness of Hillary Clinton appears to be to her left. This is why Bernie Sanders is doing so well.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So well.

STONE: This I think explains why the vice president is meeting with Elizabeth Warren.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So let me ask you about that. That middle area. If he can exploit the perceived weaknesses of Secretary Clinton and then bring on maybe an endorsement or just a -- a wink and a nod from Senator Warren, he could carve out a pretty sizable middle space there, could he not?

JOHNSON: Most definitely. Look. I don't think Joe Biden is really serious about this. But if he did join the race, I think he could really give Hillary Clinton a run for her money. The biggest difference, this doesn't have anything to do with Hillary Clinton's qualifications. It just has to do with likability. Lots of people like Joe Biden. Lots of people feel comfortable about Joe Biden. He has a good sense of humor.

I think he's probably the only Democrat that could do a one-on-one debate with Donald Trump and be just as witty or just as engaging. So I'm not saying he doesn't have a chance, I just don't think he's likely to do it. And I don't know if I think Hillary Clinton's numbers are going to stay this low. I think if she has a one-a-one against a Scott Walker or Jeb Bush or even a Trump, we might see some different numbers in these individual states.

BLACKWELL: OK. So there's something that Donald Trump pointed out and a lot of people on social media are talking about, this perceived Photoshop mishap, I guess we'll call it. This is a campaign leaflet that's reportedly sent to about 86,000 Iowans. It shows Jeb Bush here with what appears to be a black left hand.

(LAUGHTER)

JOHNSON: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Donald Trump were quick to tweet this out. Here it is. "Jeb Bush has a Photoshopped photo for an ad which gives him a black left hand and much different looking body. Jeb just can't get it right."

What do you make of this?

JOHNSON: Well, I find it ironic that Donald Trump who at his rally yesterday reported in "Washington Post," you have people screaming white power. So I don't know why he's concerned one way or another about Jeb Bush looking any closer to black people. But to perfectly honest with you, I think it's just a mistake on the part of the Bush campaign. They have claimed the Right to Rise super PAC says this was a mistake, it was a bad Photoshop Picture.

It just proves to me Jeb Bush is just not ready for primetime. He seems really out of practice. He's making mistake after mistake after mistake. If you can't get your Photoshop correct, maybe you need to do a better job of hiring interns.

BLACKWELL: Yes, well, you know, to be fair, he didn't make the leaflet himself, but I wonder where people just get a random black hand to add to this ad.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: Yes. What I'm hearing from the Bush campaign, their -- the Right to Rise super PAC which is not connected to the campaign, they say it was an accident. They had tweeted out that they show the original photo. It's Bush, he's talking to another woman and the hand is in the shadow. So they're saying that it's just a bad example of Photoshop. Not that his face was Photoshopped on the wrong body. It's just the picture has a bad shadow.

BLACKWELL: All right.

JOHNSON: That's what they're claiming.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jason Johnson, thank you so much.

JOHNSON: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And a reminder, CNN hosts the next Republican debate live from the Reagan National -- Reagan Presidential Library, rather, Wednesday, September 16th. It's right here on CNN.

PAUL: Can you imagine watching an air show and seeing this plane crashing. This was on a busy highway, in fact. And seven people are dead. Well, this morning they are still searching for more victims. We're going to take you live to London where this happened with the latest.

[06:40:08] Plus Caitlyn Jenner could face charges for a car accident that she had earlier this year. A legal expert weighs in on the consequences which could be up to a year in prison if convicted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: This week's mortgage rates dropped. Here's your look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Look at this. There are fears now that more bodies will be found in the rubble under this massive fireball. This vintage military jet crashed on a busy highway. Hitting cars, killing at least seven people in England.

Now this air show accident was caught on camera as you see it here. It was an older plane, 60 years old. It failed to complete a stunt here. It smashed to the ground and somehow the pilot survived.

CNN's Ian Lee is live in Shoreham with the latest.

And, Ian, I know it's a rainy day there, maybe hampering the search. But what can you tell us?

[06:45:08] IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, and I don't know if you can see, about a couple of miles that way. That is where the crash took place. There's a huge cordon from -- covering a wide area, police not allowing people to get closer. Going through this debris.

As you just said, it is raining today. That is hampering efforts to recover, to look, and we heard from the police last night that there could be more bodies, more people unaccounted for. And that's what they're looking for today. And it's easy to see with that massive fireball in that crash, there could be more bodies there. But one man did describe exactly what happened. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came down across, half a mile away, actually. And he was obviously too low. And that was it. He hit the ground and there was a lot of flame and a lot of nasty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And, Victor, the pilot miraculously did survive, was pulled from the wreckage. We're learning a little bit more about him now. He's a veteran of the Royal Air Force. He was a flight instructor. Someone who knew this Hawker Hunter aircraft that crashed quite well. He flew the same aircraft just last year at this air show.

But one thing we're also learning is that this airfield has had several crashes in the past. And as a result, pilots were not allowed to fly over spectators or anywhere that was inhabited. And so the real question is now, why his maneuver was performed over a very busy highway and why -- and how this plane failed -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And when you see that crash, it's miraculous that anyone survived. Hopefully they get some more news as the search continues.

Ian Lee for us there in Shoreham. Thank you so much.

PAUL: Well, a judge is going to make a big decision regarding Caitlyn Jenner this week. Will she be charged with misdemeanor manslaughter involving a deadly accident from earlier this year. Joey Jackson is going to take us through the legal significance of that.

Plus some sports. The Indianapolis Colts in the news over a listening device in a locker room?

Coy Wire, what's going on?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Christi, reports say that even back to the Peyton Manning days, the Colts felt that the New England Patriots were not to be trusted. The Colts reportedly still sweep for bugs in their locker room whenever they play out in New England. We'll talk about that. And also ask you to use #newdayCNN to tell us what you think is the biggest sports scandal in history and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:45] BLACKWELL: A district attorney is about to decide if Caitlyn Jenner should be charged for her role in a fatal car crash. The investigation into February's four-car accident is now complete. And although they found that Jenner did not commit gross negligence, the D.A.'s office says this, and this is a quote, "Jenner was going at an unsafe speed for the prevailing conditions even though he was traveling under the posted speed limit."

Now again let me say that to quote in that masculine pronoun came from the D.A.'s office. Jenner was known as Bruce Jenner at the time of the accident.

PAUL: So HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson is joining us for more.

Joey, good morning to you. So with everything that we know about this case, do you think it's strong enough for the D.A. to bring charges?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: I really don't think so. And I would be surprised, Christi, for a number of reasons. What they do in these investigations is they focus on the conduct of the person. And that would be Caitlyn Jenner. In addition to that, what they'll do, Christi, is they'll focus on the surrounding circumstances.

First as to the conduct. What they're going to look for is negligence. And what that means is, was there any carelessness? Was there any inattentiveness? Exactly how were you acting under the circumstances? Now if the investigation of course reveals some kind of any distracted driving, of course they look at the cell phone records, were you texting, were you speaking on a cell phone or anything like that? Then of course that leads to the issue of negligence and even gross negligence. Gross negligence of course wasn't found here.

And then of course they'll look at the rate of speed. And Victor just read what they said which is that, you know, unsafe for the conditions but under the speed limit. And I think, you know, that's very difficult. Because what does that then say? What would an ordinary driver in those circumstances be doing? If you're going under the speed level, do you reasonably anticipate that there would be a Prius stopped ahead on the road, that that Prius then would be hit by a Lexus and then you would hit that Lexus, causing it to go into incoming traffic -- oncoming traffic.

So as a result of that I think it's unbalanced and looking at this conduct and then looking at the conduct as I just described which are the surrounding circumstances and what he was driving into, I think it's very difficult to forge a criminal case against him on this.

PAUL: OK. You said the word right there, criminal, which is key. What about these civil suits? There are -- there are civil suits but the fact that the sheriff's detective said that Jenner did not commit gross negligence. And these civil suits are seeking unspecified damages. How strong might civil suits be in this case? And how much might they, I guess, want or get if possible momentarily?

JACKSON: Sure. You know, under those circumstances, it's different and then of course just to be clear, criminally, beyond a reasonable doubt, they'll look at that, and of course they'll look at what exactly was the conduct criminally.

Now in a civil lawsuit you're talking about a preponderance of the evidence. Is it more likely than not that you engaged in some kind of negligent conduct? And so from a civil perspective, different standard, different measures of proof, and I think there, where you're looking at money and not somebody's liberty, that's case that will be pursued. Of course there are two which you mentioned, pending civil lawsuits against them, one from the Prius owner, who was the one that was stopped.

Apparently they had a suspended license, so that will be problematic for them. But more importantly Miss Hao who unfortunately is deceased, that's a wrongful death action. She was the one driving a Lexus, she was pushed into oncoming traffic. So from a civil perspective I think the insurance companies would settle, there would be some monetary amount that would be paid. And that I think would be anticipated. But criminal charges, I think that's a bit of a stretch at this point.

[06:55:14] PAUL: Interesting. All right. Joey Jackson, your insight is always appreciate. Thank you, sir.

JACKSON: Thank you, Christi. Have a great day.

PAUL: Of course.

Well, we --

BLACKWELL: The man who was allegedly going to commit a massacre aboard a train in France. Three Americans and two others stopped him by taking him down. The connections investigators have discovered in a live report from Paris, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right. Time now, 57 after the hour, coming up to the top of the hour. Look at other stories making headlines.

A "National Review" team will look into the deaths of three firefighters who were killed in a firefight there in Washington state last week. Washington's governor calls the situation there unprecedented.

PAUL: In all 259 fires are burning in 17 states across the U.S. right now, particularly in the southwest. Hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help fight those fires as well.

BLACKWELL: And a surprise second baby, twins. Who knew? Just hours after giving birth to a cub, giant panda Mei Xiang delivered an unexpected second one Saturday night at the National Zoo. Now this comes just days after the zoo announced her possible pregnancy. Both cubs appear to be healthy. One of them was placed in an incubator and they'll alternate so that both get time to bond with their mother.

PAUL: So first came spygate, next we had deflategate, and then maybe just paranoia? Former coach Tony Dungy revealed this week that Peyton Manning was apparently so worried about the New England Patriots' cheating when he played for the Colts that he wouldn't talk strategy in the locker room. According to one Indianapolis sports reporter the Colts still sweep for bugs when they visit Gillette Stadium. By the way, there are no reports of them ever finding anything, but you know there are always two sides to every story.

And we're asking, are the Patriots just the most dishonest team in sports? Or do they just have a bad reputation? BLACKWELL: OK. Coy is with us now.

PAUL: Coy Wire. Yes.

WIRE: Yes.

PAUL: Nine-year NFL veteran himself. So what do you say?

WIRE: Well, I can say in my nine years I had a head coach that we would go to an opposing team's stadium and the night before you stay in a hotel, he would make sure that we cleaned out all the trash cans and didn't leave anything in there because they had caught other teams coming in and stealing stuff out of their trash cans after we left to make sure -- to see if there were any, you know, plays or notes left where they could get a competitive advantage.

PAUL: My gosh.

WIRE: So it's not just the Patriots. But you have deflategate, you have spygate as you mentioned, Christi. So when you talk about the biggest scandals in sports, you have to think the Patriots are up there.

But we want to know what you think. Use #newdayCNN. What has been the biggest scandal in sports history? Is it Lance Armstrong? Is it Pete Rose gambling? You can go on and on. Penn State's Jerry Sandusky's scandal. There are a lot out there. We want to know what you think and why. We'll use your insight coming up next.

BLACKWELL: All right.

WIRE: All right.

BLACKWELL: Look forward to that one.

PAUL: Good. Thank you, Coy.

WIRE: Yes. All right.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Coy.

PAUL: And thank you so much for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: There is much more ahead on the next hour of your NEW DAY and that starts right now.